A union leader said the Lenexa plant manager told them the company is shutting the plant down immediately. The Lenexa plant makes bread and buns. Another plant in Emporia, Kan., makes some of the Hostess snack cakes.

Hostess and its product lines have been hurt by competition and customers choosing alternatives.

The striking workers said they were refusing to accept an 8 percent pay cut and more reductions in the struggling company's benefits.

"It seems like every four to five years, they're taking something else back," said Hostess driver Roy Stufflebean. "They get richer and we get poorer."

Stufflebean isn't even on strike. As a Teamsters driver, he said it was hard to work when his fellow workers were on the picket line. The employees walked out last week after a federal judge ordered the wage and benefit cuts.

Justin Wilson, a union critic, said the union is to blame for the company's decision.

"They called the bluff of this company that is in bankruptcy. This is what happens," he said. "There will be no one who will be willing to pick up this union's contract."

Striking worker Fredrick Taylor said he didn't think the decision would spell the end of Zingers, Sno Balls, Ho-Hos and Twinkies.

"Someone will come in," he said. "There will still be Wonder baking products."

At one Johnson County store, the Hostess shelf is thinning out. The company said it will continue to sell its bread and snacks until the products run out, which won't be long.

Workers said they will end their picket line if they are convinced the plant has been locked for good. If not, they said they will probably leave sometime Saturday.